30,000 public lights to be retrofitted in county Cork

OVER 30,000 public lights are to be retrofitted with energy-efficient LED bulbs in Cork county by the end of 2022.

It is hoped that the work on the lights, which is part of the Local Authority Public Lighting Energy Efficiency Project, will begin before Christmas and be completed by the end of next year.

The project will halve the carbon output of the current public lights, which County Hall’s Director of Roads said makes up 40% of the county’s carbon emissions.

Padraig Barrett said that a further 11 retrofitting projects have also been carried out on lights around County Cork this month.

The county is the leader in a region consisting of Co Clare, Co Limerick, Co Kerry, and Co Waterford in completing the Public Lighting Energy Efficiency Project.

Approximately 77,000 bulbs are being replaced across the region as part of the project using funding from a loan from the Department of Housing. Of the lanterns to be replaced, 38% are located in Cork.

“We are going for a warmer colour temperature than the current LEDs that have been installed around the county,” Mr Barrett said.

“They were at 4000K and we’re going towards 3000K, so a warm white light will be installed.”

The council will also be considering turning the lights off or down when not needed in order to reduce emissions.

“This is only project number one of a carbon reduction strategy by the local government sector in public lighting.

“Public lighting takes up about 40% of our carbon output at the moment as a sector and this project will half that, which is very good, but if we are to reach Carbon Zero then we’re going to have to go well beyond half in terms of public lighting,” Mr Barrett added.